Vatican Regesta 671: 1477-1479 | British History Online

Calendar of Papal Registers Relating To Great Britain and Ireland: Volume 13, 1471-1484. Originally published by Her Majesty's Stationery Office, London, 1955.

Citation:

'Vatican Regesta 671: 1477-1479', in Calendar of Papal Registers Relating To Great Britain and Ireland: Volume 13, 1471-1484, (London, 1955) pp. 251-255. British History Online https://www.british-history.ac.uk/cal-papal-registers/brit-ie/vol13/pp251-255 [accessed 14 May 2024].

Vatican Regesta, Vol. DCLXXI.

Liber Duodecimus Bullarum Diversarum.

7 Sixtus IV.



1477. 15 Kal. Nov. (18 Oct.) St. Peter's, Rome. (f. 129v.)	To Richard Brade, priest, of the diocese of St. Andrews. Dispensation to receive and retain for life any two benefices with cure or otherwise incompatible, even if two parish churches, etc., or two elective major or principal dignities, etc., and to resign or exchange them, etc. Vite etc. (In the margin: Junij.) [2¼ pp.]

9 Sixtus IV.



1479. 6 Id. Nov. (8 Nov.) St. Peter's, Rome. (f. 422r.)	Decree, etc., as below. The pope recapitulates his monition, etc. to certain merchants of the staple of Calais to make satisfaction for goods taken by them from Richard Heron (Reg. Vat. DCLXVI, f. 366v., above, p. 227), as far as ‘perpetual malediction, etc.,’ (above, p. 235). After the said monition, etc., it was set forth to the pope by king Edward that he bore it ill (fn. 1) that the said Richard, his vassal and subject, and a native of the realm, should pursue his cause in the Roman court or even in the parlement of the king of France, seeing that he was a layman and belonged to the said society (almost all the better merchants of which belonged to England), and that the jurisdiction over the said town of Calais and the said merchants belonged to him; and that it was believed that Richard's proposed pilgrimage to the said city [of Rome] was feigned. The pope, therefore, calling up to himself all causes pending in the matter before ecclesiastical judges, remitted them to the said king and his royal court, and ordered four judges to absolve the mayor, constable, and all officers and merchants of the said society from all the sentences of excommunication, etc., contained in his said prior letters, inhibited all ecclesiastical judges to hear such causes further or proceed therein, and decreed null and void all processes and sentences of such judges, etc. (fn. 2) Seeing, however, that it follows from what the said Richard set forth to the pope that the said prior letters were based on false grounds in a cause which was purely secular and between laymen, (fn. 3) the pope now, considering the perils and damages to the said merchants from the said prior letters, and considering that they have been executed against two members only of the said society, at the said Richard's instance, separately and when they were in Italy, namely, by the archbishop of Patras (one of the judges appointed in the said prior letters), (fn. 4) which two members do not make up the said society or represent it, are not amongst its principal members, and were not amongst those who gave Richard cause of complaint, etc., and therefore ought not to have incurred the sentences, etc., contained in the said prior letters, the pope hereby decrees and declares, motu proprio, that the said prior letters emanated from him inadvertently, and were extorted against his intention, (fn. 5) and annuls them and their contents and anything done in virtue thereof by the judges named therein against the said mayor, constables, officers, merchants, and their aiders, (fn. 6) sureties and adherents, and any members of the said society, declares that the said mayor, etc., have not incurred the said sentences, etc., and restores the said cause and causes, and the parties therein, to the state in which they were at the time of the said letters, and grants to the said mayor, etc., that they cannot be brought or called to judgement (fn. 7) outside the realm by the said Richard and his heirs, etc. The pope does not intend by the said grant to derogate from or in any way prejudice the jurisdiction of the king of France or any other prince. Ad fut. rei mem. Intenta semper salutis operibus apostolice sedis circumspecta benignitas. (In the margin: Oct.) [14 pp.]
Prid. Id. Dec. (12 Dec.) St. Peter's, Rome. (f. 432r.)	Monition, etc., as below. John Kandal, (fn. 8) turcopolier of the convent of the hospital of St. John of Jerusalem, sent on behalf of the master and convent as their orator and envoy (fn. 9) to the pope and the apostolic see, has recently set forth to the pope that, contrary to the custom of his predecessors, John Weston, prior of St. John's without the walls of London, does not maintain hospitality in the hospital of his said priory, and causes timber to be cut in certain woods in the diocese of London and elsewhere, beyond what is needed for his own use and that of his household and for the repair of the buildings of the said priory, and the said timber to be sold or alienated, and converts to his own uses the fruits which ought to have been applied to the keep of the persons in the said hospital and the money arising from the sale of the said timber, to the injury to the said persons and the impoverishment of the treasury of the said convent, wherefore his reputation with the said master and other priors, preceptors and religious of the said Order is greatly injured. (fn. 10) The pope, therefore, hereby requires and monishes the said John Weston, within two months from these presents being presented to him on behalf of the said master and convent, to maintain hospitality in the hospital of the said priory in accordance with its foundation, and as his predecessors have done, and to desist from cutting timber in the said woods, except for the above use and repair, and selling or alienating the same; with penalties for disobedience, and mandate executory hereby to the archbishop of Canterbury and the bishops of Lincoln and London. (Gratis de mandato domini nostri pape. In the margin: Dec.) [3½ pp.]

8 Sixtus IV.



18 Kal. July. (14 June.) St. Peter's, Rome. (f. 481v.)	Confirmation, etc., as below. The pope recapitulates: (i) Eugenius IV's grant of plenary remission to all faithful for visits during the lifetime of Henry VI. to the church of St. Mary of Eton, by Windsor, from the first to the second vespers of the Assumption, and for alms for the repelling of the Turks and the fabric of the said church and the maintenance of its ministers, and his faculty for priests appointed by the provost to hear the confessions of the said faithful and enjoin penance, and absolve in all except reserved cases [Cal. Papal Lett., VIII, p. 239; see also p. 271, where the grant is made perpetual]. (ii) Pius II's grant in perpetuity of the same plenary indulgence and remission and faculty [ibid., XI, p. 386.] The pope hereby confirms the foregoing, and pro potiori [cautela] grants plenary indulgence and remission of sins to the faithful who, being penitent and having confessed, visit the said church (which is held in special devotion by John Doget, treasurer of Chichester, doctor of decrees, sent by Edward king of England to the pope and the apostolic see as his orator for the peace of Italy, and in his youth one of its ministers (fn. 11) ), and grants faculty, as above, for the provost to appoint confessors, and for the confessors to grant absolution to those who so visit, the present letters to hold good in perpetuity; with the usual proviso that if a like grant have been made by the pope, in perpetuity or for a time not yet elapsed, these presents shall be null and void. Univ. Christifidelibus … Pastoris eterni. (Gratis de mandato sanctissimi domini nostri pape. In the margin: Jul.) [3 pp.+. The original bull of Sixtus IV is at Eton College; see Hist. MSS. Com. Report, IX, part i (1883), p. 351, where the date is given as ‘Rome, 18 Kalends June, 1479.’]

9 Sixtus IV.



Prid. Id. Dec. (12 Dec.) St. Peter's, Rome. (f. 497r.)	Indulgence, etc., as below. The pope has been informed by the master of the hospital of St. John of Jerusalem and the convent of Rhodes (through John Quindal, (fn. 12) turcopolier, (fn. 13) lieutenantgeneral of the said master and convent in Italy, England, Flanders and Ireland, and their procurator in the Roman court, Peter Fernandi de Heredia, bajulus (fn. 14) of Cantauetula in the diocese of Saragossa, and Guy de Blanchefort, preceptor of the house of Morterolles (fn. 15) in the diocese of Limoges, orators sent to the pope on behalf of the said master and convent and the chapter-general last held at Rhodes), of the advance of the Turks, their outrages, and their threatened attack on the castle of St. Peter, which the master and brethren, although they have strongly fortified it, can hardly defend without help. He, therefore, hereby grants to all faithful who, being penitent and having confessed, visit, once only, any one of the churches in the world (except in Rome) which shall be appointed for the purpose, at any time from the first vespers of Palm Sunday next to come till Easter Day immediately after Lent in the year 1481, (fn. 16) and give alms for the defence of the faith, plenary remission and remission of all their sins; with faculty for the said orators, their commissaries and the pope's, and those surrogated in their stead by the master and convent, to appoint the churches which are to be visited. To those who are prevented from visiting such churches, but send their alms, the pope grants that the confessor of their choice may, after hearing their confession, grant them absolution of all their sins, except in reserved cases, and enjoin penance, and in the hour of death plenary indulgence and remission of all their sins, etc.; with the usual arrangements for the collection of alms by means of collecting boxes in the several churches, and the sending of the same to be used for the above purpose. The present letters shall not hold good after Easter Day in the said year 1481. Universis Christifidelibus … catholice fidei defensionem. (Gratis de mandato domini nostri pape. In the margin: De.) [8 pp.]